Book Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Title: This Shattered World

Author(s): Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Series/Standalone: Starbound Series (Book #2)

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Romance

Pages: 394

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Year Published: 2014

Format: Hardcover Copy (Library)

"Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelenting war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as a prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that changes him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war."

DNF @ 85%

My Rating: 1.5/5

I think that if I had been able to keep momentum with this book I would have kept reading, but something happened around the 75% mark that just made this book drag for me. I don't know if it was the book or something outside of the book that just ripped me out of it but then I couldn't seem to get back in no matter how much I tried. As per my 2023 goals, if I'm not having a good time, I don't have to finish a book. I can leave it and that's ok. What are your thoughts on DNFs?

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

Title: These Broken Stars

Author: Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

Series/Standalone: Starbound Series (Book #1)

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance

Pages: 389

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Year Published: 2013

Format: Audiobook (Own Hardcover Copy)

"It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. 

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a younger war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other's arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder- would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won't be the same people who landed on it."

My Rating: 4.5/5

This was such a fun read and I think that if you were part of booktube during the Illuminae trilogy releases this was where it all started. This writing is very similar which makes sense as Amie Kaufman wrote with a partner in each series. This was great on audio, the use of the interviews at the start of the chapters really kept my interest intact. The characters were dynamic and the premise was great. Overall, the atmosphere and the premise were 5/5, but Lilac herself knocked this book down by .5 of a rating. I know she's supposed to be the way she is, but I don't have to enjoy that through most of the book. I look forward to reading the rest of the series now that I know they are more companion novels than continuations of the same story.

Thanks for reading, 

Sidny